Owner	Pose
Dyrk Magz	Dyrk Magz is ... milling. The last couple of days, stymied by the Visitor Protocol at the Baxter Building and the lack of easily accessible channels for getting in touch with the others *and* somehow miraculously not managing to touch base with Rand either... The TwenCen just isn't charming enough to deal with this for too much longer. How the sprock did Rokk and the others who were stuck back here the last time deal with it for so long? Of course, the pacing and pondering and general frustrated fussing with anything not either nailed down or currently involved in some kind of active work is not helping.
Brainiac 5	Brainy, on the other hand, has been busy! And in unusually high spirits. He went out to try and open a bank account with money he made doing something (online surveys) and when he came back, he was bright-eyed, amused, and he immediately launched into using his holographic terminal to begin putting together plans for the Legion Cruiser. Eventually, says, still twiddling with something on the image, "You look frustrated."
Dyrk Magz	"Is it that obvious?" Dyrk asks with a protracted sigh. "I'm just... stymied by red tape and a lack of leads, and I don't really know what to do with myself." Moving to look over Brainy's shoulder at the plans he's poking at, Dyrk continues, "Here I am, chipper man of all helping and - no offense intended when I say this - ostensibly the Legionnaire present with the easiest time dealing with people and it's not happening."
Brainiac 5	Querl tilts his head, and then says, "You know full well that sometimes leads don't turn things up right away." He stops adjusting the hologram and dismisses the disassembled ship. "I met Supergirl. You know, it's the most curious thing, Dyrk -- I feel as if I KNOW her. I've never met her before and yet -- I looked at her and it was like seeing a piece missing from my life." He gets to his feet, and turns, slightly. "I'm afraid I don't have words to adequately describe it. Like getting a cup of cool water and not realizing how thirsty you were? I'm a scientist, not a poet."
Dyrk Magz	NOW his problems are smaller. And... different, somehow? "I don't know Brainy, you were pretty handy with the simile there," Dyrk teases gently. "I can't say as I've ever felt the same, but it sure *sounds* like Love-at-First-Sight -- if the holo stories are to believed at all. Or Tinya."
Brainiac 5	"Oh, that's not really fair. What it IS," Querl says, "Is infatuation. And she IS beautiful. And kind. And I AM infatuated... but--" He holds up his hands, palms out, in a shrug, "It's just infatuation, isn't it?" He adds. "And yet, I can't lie--I look at her and my heart aches, and I don't know why. It just... does." He gets up. "I think I'm hungry, and I forgot to eat yesterday. What do we have?" Then he says, "Oh, I meant to ask, before everything happened I heard Tinya and Imra whispering that you'd posed for the Science Police charity calendar. How DID they talk you into it, Dyrk?"
Dyrk Magz	And now he's RED. BEET RED. Clearing his throat, his color subsides - just a little - as he scratches the back of his head and looks off at... oh god, anything, what's over there? Uhm. "It was for a good cause? Orphans? Animals? Orphaned animals?" Groaning gently, he covers his face while taking a deep breath and says very quietly through his hands, "I lost a bet."
Brainiac 5	"Yes, and that infant Bgztlian Slith you were holding in a very discrete spot was absolutely adorable." Querl says. "Honest disclosure -- they weren't whispering about it. I obtained an advance copy." He looks in the fridge, and frowns at a tupperware container full of leftovers. "In the name of science."
Brainiac 5	"Speaking of science," Querl says, "This egg foo young has become a fascinating example of Terran sporulating molds. At least three... no, four differentk inds."
Dyrk Magz	"...*Science*?" If he were Jo, or Thom, or Garth, there'd be a ready quipping response for that right on his lips. But Dyrk is, generally speaking, not a locker-room joker. That said, he's not about the *not* pursue a potential avenue when the opportunity presents itself. "You bought a calendar full of mostly-nude male bipeds ... for science?" *Egg Foo Young?*
Brainiac 5	Querl throws the dish away. Into a disintegration chamber, which he built when he remembered that in the twenty-first century they're not standared. He says, somewhat plainly, "Having seen the dramatic romances that untangled themselves in the Legion, I swore never to get wrapped up in them, so I made a point to never talk about it in public. What I liked, what I didn't like, my *feelings*. It all struck me as... counterproductive." "And now I'm wondering, was I missing something? Could I have been just a little bit warmer? Show just a little more of the 'real' me? What would I have risked? What might I have gained?"
Dyrk Magz	"The Legion is primarily late-adolescents and young adults, raging hormones are *scientifically* a given," Dyrk shrugs one-shouldered, though he moves a little closer as the conversation turns more serious. "Plenty of people keep quiet out of nervousness or fear, sometimes they don't see opportunity and they miss it." It happens. He's close enough to put a hand on Brainy's shoulder, but he doesn't. Not yet. "Revealing something about yourself intentionally is always a risk, but if you don't take one every once in a while you can miss out on some really great things."
Brainiac 5	"You try and pretend you're above it all and then one day IT is gone and you find yourself realizing--" Querl tilts his head, and closes his mouth, and he gives a little smirk. "I have no idea what I'm doing, and I HATE that, Dyrk." "But yes," He says, with a sigh. "I am attracted to individuals across a broad spectrum of genders. Coluans often are, it's a function of advanced cognition."
Dyrk Magz	Dyrk grins now, "I'll add that to my short list of brags." That and that Brainy 'studied my abs for science.' One doesn't need to be from Titan or Naltor to get a bead on where things are. "Anyone who tells you they have *everything* figured out, they're lying. No matter how many levels of intelligence they rank." Now he *does* reach out, not for Brainy's shoulder, but for his cheek - brushing the underside of his jaw with a finger. "Not everything needs to be figured out in advance."
Brainiac 5	Querl tilts his chin up, and then he raises an eyebrow. "I'm distant." He says. "And difficult. I live in my lab, and I don't have any silly notions of romance." But at the same time, his hand is moving to rest on Dyrk's forearm. "Tell me something, Dyrk. You've been away from the Legion for awhile. How many relationships have you HAD? Because I am, give or take the occasional infatuation, standing at zero."
Dyrk Magz	"A couple, but I spent a lot of the last few years pushing everyone away in a different way." Dyrk moves his fingers across Querl's cheek gently. "I'm too nice, I bury myself in my field work, and I have *deliberately* ignored the advances of others when scared and given up on the pretense of getting anything I wanted." Dyrk really looks at Brainy now, feeling the heat of his hand on his arm, hand on cheek. "What I want right now is to kiss you." It's frank, and it's not romantic persay, but there's only so hard he's going to push.
Brainiac 5	Querl considers this, and then he looks up, and meets Dyrk's gaze, and his eyes are as green as emeralds. "So why don't you, for science?" He is... unusually vulnerable. But one wonders if half of his mind isn't examining the other.
Dyrk Magz	"To Hell with science," Dyrk murmurs, but that's all the permission he needs. Adjusting his hand from his cheek to the back of Querl's head, Dyrk wraps his arm around the other man's lower back and pulls him into him. Pressing his lips against Querl's he moves with a firm surety, progressing only when reciprocated with.
Brainiac 5	Querl is... skinny. And wiry. Nice shoulders, though! And then he's grabbing the hair on the back of Dyrk's head and for a moment things get downright aggressive, before he pulls away. His cheeks have flushed a dark, emerald green. "*Interesting*," He says.
Dyrk Magz	Dyrk Magz exhales slowly, watching Brainy. He's still flushed, but wether it's lingering initial calendar embarrassment or something else entirely might be the subject of lively debate. "Definitely."
Brainiac 5	Querl mulls over this. "You know." He says. "You slept next to me, that night. I don't remember much, but I do remember that." The corner of his mouth turns up. "This is just between us?" He says, "And we're teammates first. And we take it one day at a time. But... a little contact with another person, one who I respect and admire--it'd be nice."
Dyrk Magz	"Hey, I won't move any faster than you want. The Legion is always going to come first," Dyrk agrees... but he stays close. Smiling. "I'm glad. With your brain all out of synch when I found you, it scared me. And you seemed like you needed to know that someone was there with you. For you. I'm glad it was me."
Brainiac 5	Querl considers that, and then he says, "My heart did ache when I looked at her. But that means one thing, and you, Dyrk, mean something else. So." He says. "You got me away from my work, and we're taking this one day at a time, which leaves tonight."
Dyrk Magz	Which sounds an aaaawwwwful lot like an invitation; and seeing as how he stayed close, Dyrk's smile doesn't change - it's his eyes. Putting his arms around Brainy's waist, he'll pull him as close as allowed. "Meaning what, exactly, Querl?" Because he can think of *several.*
Brainiac 5	Querl raises an eyebrow. "I don't know. Let's go find out," He says. It's rare for people to get into Querl's personal space bubble like this. He's nervous, but elated. This is new for him. Liberating. "In the name of science." Then he raises an eyebrow. "Did you and XS ever..?" He's a curious thing. Always probing for knowledge, a hungry intellect.
Dyrk Magz	"A stolen kiss here and there," Dyrk admits, holding Querl right there against him - pelvises pressed. "Nothing too much more. She was more into Rokk." He gets his face right up close to Brainy's angled for a kiss but not moving for it just yet, drawing his hands up the other's back and then back down. "Right now I'm more into you."
Brainiac 5	That makes Brainy snort, derisively. "Imagine me--caught in a romantic entanglement with another Legionnaire. Breaking promises I made to myself. Well let me tell you, Officer Magz, you're not in Cosmic Boy's shadow, and you never were. Also, people used to tease me that I have a thing for statuesque blondes. Well..." He says, "They're not wrong." He's the one that steals that kiss, and Querl... is a fast learner. "You hear people talk about it but I didn't know it'd feel like electricity. So come on. We can see what happens next and you can tell me about that bet you lost."
Dyrk Magz	Nipping at Querl's chin, Dyrk finds himself for actually the first time very glad of his flight ring. Because it's not much for him to hoist Brainy into his arms, and not much at all but the rush of curtains and papers and the rattle of knick-knacks until Dyrk has Brainy beneath him on the bed they've shared far more innocently. One hand on Brainy's chest, Dyrk is poised for more but fixes Querl's gaze again. "We can do anything you want. Everything. But when you want to stop, if it ever gets to be too much, we stop. Don't force yourself to do anything you aren't ready for, you don't have anything to prove. Not to me and not to yourself. I'm not going anywhere." "Okay?"
Brainiac 5	Querl pauses, and then he reaches up to turn out the light. "Dyrk, please." Click! "I'm a scientist!"